For millennia, humans have used knots for all kinds of reasons — to tie rope, braid hair, or weave fabrics. But there are organisms that are better at tying knots and far superior — and faster — at untangling them. Tiny California blackworms intricately tangle themselves by the thousands to form ball-shaped blobs that allow them to execute a wide range of biological functions. But, most striking of all, while the worms tangle over a period of several minutes, they can untangle in mere milliseconds, escaping at the first sign of a threat from a predator. Saad Bhamla, assistant ...

New Haven, Conn. — What the human genome is lacking compared with the genomes of other primates might have been as crucial to the development of humankind as what has been added during our evolutionary history, according to a new study led by researchers at Yale and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The new findings, published April 28 in the journal Science, fill an important gap in what is known about historical changes to the human genome. While a revolution in the capacity to collect data from genomes ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Hundreds of scientific studies have been conducted over the years to find the genes underlying common human traits, from eye color to intelligence and physical and mental illnesses. Patrick Sullivan, MD, FRANZCP, the Yeargan Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Genetics at the UNC School of Medicine, and the Psychiatric Genomic Consortium have produced a new packet for the journal Science, to give researchers another way to understand human disease, using the power of evolutionary genomics. “This is a tool that can give us a lot of important hints about human disease,” ...

Solving a riddle that has confounded biologists since bacterial spores — inert, sleeping bacteria —  were first described more than 150 years ago, researchers at Harvard Medical School have discovered a new kind of cellular sensor that allows spores to detect the presence of nutrients in their environment and quickly spring back to life. It turns out that these sensors double as channels through the membrane and remain closed during dormancy but rapidly open when they detect nutrients. Once open, the channels allow electrically charged ions to flow out through the cell membrane, setting in motion ...

HOUSTON – (April 27, 2023) – Research supports the promise of psychedelics in treating conditions like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, but the future regulatory landscape for these drugs remains unclear. Experts from Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania, American University and Harvard Law School call for creativity and collaboration at the federal and state levels in developing policies for the use and oversight of psychedelics and a commitment to developing a strong evidence base for efficacy and safety. In a paper published in the journal Science, the authors, experts in bioethics, law and ...

Contrary to what is stated in biology textbooks, the growth of fish doesn’t slow down when and because they start spawning. In fact, their growth accelerates after they reproduce, according to a new article published in Science.   “Fish don’t have to choose between growth or reproduction because, in the real world, they don’t occur simultaneously but rather sequentially,” says University of British Columbia (UBC) fisheries researcher Dr. Daniel Pauly, co-author of ...

Counting problems arise in many different fields, e.g., statistical physics, economics and machine learning. In order to study the complexity of counting problems, several natural frameworks have been proposed. Two well studied frameworks are counting constraint satisfaction problems (#CSP) and Holant problems. For counting satisfaction problems over the Boolean domain, two explicit tractable families namely  and , are identified; any function set which is not contained in these two families is proved to be #P-hard. Furthermore, counting CSPd is the counting constraint satisfaction problem restricted to the instances where every variable occurs a multiple of d times. The team ...

IVF procedures can be improved by combining genetic and clinical data to predict the number of eggs retrieved in patients undergoing ovarian stimulation. #### Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011020 Article Title: Personalized prediction of the secondary oocytes number after ovarian stimulation: A machine learning model based on clinical and genetic data Author Countries: Poland Funding: The research was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the ...

Results from the NRG Oncology RTOG 0631 clinical trial comparing stereotactic vs. conventional radiotherapy for localized vertebral metastases of the spine did not meet its primary endpoint. Data from the study suggests that radiosurgery was not considered superior in terms of pain responses at 3 months following treatment, and even displayed worse pain response, than the conventional external beam radiotherapy (cEBRT). These results were recently published in the JAMA Oncology. cEBRT is currently the standard of care for treating ...

A study supported by the National Institutes of Health found that people who experienced acute kidney injury (AKI) during a hospitalization, including those admitted with AKI or who developed AKI in the hospital, were more likely to revisit the hospital or die shortly after discharge, compared to people hospitalized without AKI. AKI is a sudden loss of kidney function that usually lasts for a short time. The research, funded by NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), was ...

Inflammation is a complex biological process that can eradicate pathogens and promotes repair of damaged tissues. However, deregulation of the immune system can lead to uncontrolled inflammation and produce lesions instead. Inflammation is also involved in cancer. The molecular mechanisms underlying inflammation are not fully understood, and so developing new drugs represents a significant challenge. As far back as 2020, Dr. Raphaël Rodriguez, CNRS research director and head of the Chemical Biology team at Institut Curie (Equipe ...

A research team led by Prof. HYEON Taeghwan at the Center for Nanoparticle Research within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in Seoul, South Korea has developed a new photocatalytic platform for the mass production of hydrogen. The group’s study on the photocatalytic platform led to the development of a floatable photocatalytic matrix, which allows efficient hydrogen evolution reaction with clear advantages over conventional hydrogen production platforms such as film or panel types. The importance of alternative energy has recently increased due to global challenges such as environmental ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine say they have evidence from a new study in rats that spinal cord stimulation (SCS) may be useful in reducing chronic pain in people undergoing active treatment with a common anti-cancer drug. The study found that the use of SCS measurably reduced pain response in rats that were implanted with human lung cancer tissue — without compromising effectiveness of treatment with paclitaxel, a drug used to treat a variety of cancers. The study, published April 11 in Neuromodulation: Technology at the Neural ...

Norway, like other Nordic countries, widely utilised non-mandatory advice during the COVID-19 pandemic in the attempt to reduce social contacts among people and occasionally turned to obligatory measures, specifically during peaks in transmission. In comparison with stricter interventions, non-mandatory measures are usually less invasive and costly and have been recommended in previous pandemics, including influenza. Mobile phone data provides mobility metrics In their research article published in Eurosurveillance today, Kamineni et al. compare the impact on mobility when previously non-mandatory ...

WASHINGTON — New and advanced types of nuclear reactors could play an important role in helping the U.S. meet its long-term climate goals, but a range of technical, regulatory, economic, and societal challenges must first be overcome, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Development, testing, and widespread deployment of these reactors could take several decades. The report makes recommendations for the U.S. Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, other federal and state agencies, and private industry to lay the groundwork required for advanced reactors to become a viable part of the U.S. energy system. Currently, ...

A plant-based compound purified from the traditional Chinese herb, Astragalus, has the potential to improve the outcome of heart attack patients, new research has revealed. Experts at Newcastle University, UK, have found that the product, known as TA-65®, significantly reduces inflammation and, unlike current cardiovascular treatments, does not negatively impact immunity. A study, published in GeroScience, showed that when TA-65® was given to older patients for over a year after their heart attack, it specifically increased lymphocytes, improving immunity ...

TORONTO, April 27, 2023 – Families of those with serious mental health issues feel stigmatized and alone, say York University researchers in a new study. “We are avoided. When we told our family, they shut us out, I am so hurt, and so angry” – 62-year-old mom with an adult son with serious mental illness, as described to York researchers. It’s well known that those who have serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia face a great deal of stigma in society, but what has been less understood is the concept of “stigma by ...

The 819-day calendar used by ancient Mayans has long stumped researchers, but anthropologists from Tulane University may have finally deciphered its secrets. Researchers long suspected the calendar followed astronomical events, specifically how long it takes a planet to appear in the same place in the night sky as seen from Earth, known as the synodic periods of planets. But, according to the study published in Ancient Mesoamerica, the cycles in the Maya calendar cover a much larger timeframe than scholars previously thought. “Although prior research has sought to show planetary connections for the 819-day count, its four-part, color-directional scheme is too short to fit well with ...

Crop yield can be maximized when the best genetic variety and most effective crop management practices are used for cultivation. Scientists have developed various machine learning models to predict the factors that produce the greatest yield in specific crop plants. However, traditional models cannot accommodate high levels of variation in parameters or large data inputs. This can lead to the failure of models under certain circumstances. Also, since crop models are restricted to the types of input they can accommodate, ...

When manipulating an arcade claw, a player can plan all she wants. But once she presses the joystick button, it’s a game of wait-and-see. If the claw misses its target, she’ll have to start from scratch for another chance at a prize.  The slow and deliberate approach of the arcade claw is similar to state-of-the-art pick-and-place robots, which use high-level planners to process visual images and plan out a series of moves to grab for an object. If a gripper misses its mark, it’s back to the starting point, where the controller must map out a new plan.   Looking to give ...

Studies show that some species may require breeding in captivity within the next 200 years to avoid extinction. This reality places heavy importance on the reintroduction practices used to successfully transfer species from captivity to the wild. A new study from George Mason University looks at some of the most popular conservation techniques and identifies which have the highest likelihood of success for the reintroduction of bird species back into the wild. George Mason doctoral student Jessica Roberts and biology professor Dr. David Luther examined various conservation management methods from the past 50 years to identify the most successful ...

A new test revealed that FDA-approved antibiotics — available at your neighborhood pharmacy — can effectively treat superbugs. They are not prescribed, however, because the gold-standard test predicts they will not work. The new test may improve the way antibiotics are developed, tested and prescribed — and it is openly available to all. The research has significant implications in the fight against bacterial resistance by optimizing the prescription and use of currently available antibiotics and enhancing the efforts to discover new ones. Developed by a research team of UC Santa Barbara scientists, the antibiotic study was published in the ...

Animals tend to get smaller as their populations grow because of increased competition for food resources among members of the same species. That’s not what has happened with California sea lions, however, according to a new study led by scientists at UC Santa Cruz. Published April 27 in Current Biology, the study found that male California sea lions have gotten bigger as the population grew over the past 50 years, while female body size has remained stable. “It’s counterintuitive. You would expect that their body size would decrease as dietary resource competition intensified,” said coauthor Paul Koch, professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UCSC. The ...

In a new translational study from UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, researchers analyzed genetic changes in the organs of recently deceased patients to understand how metastatic cutaneous melanoma spreads in those who had initially benefited from precision therapies. Results are published online ahead of print in Nature Medicine. The researchers, including collaborators at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tennessee, said unveiling the landscape of DNA and RNA alterations ...

A unique treatment combining radiation and immunotherapy can eradicate pancreatic tumors while stopping the cancer from spreading, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. The study, published today in the journal Cancer Cell, offers new hope to those with this often deadly disease. “This is the first time we’ve seen the eradication of a pancreatic tumor that suggests the cancer cell has memory, meaning we can stop the disease from coming back,” said lead author Sana Karam, MD, PhD, member of the CU ...